How to program a motorola spectra

Enter the last four digits of the radios serial number here. This brings a display with a flashing 1 followed by C5. The rotary MODE knob scrolls thru others If you press enter on any of these choices the 1 goes steady but the C begins to flash. The default is CS Carrier Squelch. The volume knob is useless while in service mode.

CH TEST Pessing enter here shows V 2 01 for a few seconds then the display slowly cycles thru all letters and numbers as well as the various indicators in the display. Now, any key pressed shows up a individual number assigned to that key This allows one to adjust a push-button setting of rf output Lo Med and High for either a Lo or High powered Spectra radio.

You can toggle the transmitter on and off while doing this, and one of the test freqs is used. EXIT Just like it says. The A5 control head has the electronics for the extra 9 buttons that are present in the A7 version. The radio will recognize these in control head test mode but the radio ignores them during regular operation.

RSS will not let you program functions for the other three rows while editing an A5 codeplug. Like the Maxtracs the radio enables certain options depending on the model number programmed into the radio. Changing the model number and serial number. You can probably do this with the Lab software, by loading an A7 codeplug same band and power into an A5 radio.

You may be able to make a "new" radio Maxtrac-style. I dunno. I haven't played with Spectra Lab Software. This is the shop price. Also, you have to purchase a new plastic front panel and buttons. The buttons available are listed and depicted in the various service manuals and there are some nice variations of legend and icon. You can find part numbers for most of the buttons in the chart below. The part number for plastic A7 front is also listed. Converting an B5 to a C7 We received the following info regarding this topic:.

The results were worth it, my B-5 Privacy Plus radio became a Smartnet C-7 with my serial number and a new model number. Now when you read the radio and go into More Features under the Radio Wide screen, it says that it is not Securenet compatible. But, I loaded one of our C-7 files into it the same model number that I had the MLM programmed for that is secure capable, and although it says it is still not capable, the secure key will load and it functions as though it should in conventional and trunked modes.

A tech. I can see why a B-5 isn't worth nearly as much as a C-5 or 7. He also said that upgrading from a B-5 to a C-7 is possible for the retail difference between the two, not really much of a deal.

If it's a new board, initialize it and dump your file that you want it to be into it. If the board is used you will need a copy of LAB and change the serial inside the MLM to match the command board, then dump your file into it that you want. If you are lucky enough to have a late version of LAB it will have a field called "moflag" with which you can modify the radio without a new codeplug, although you will still need to change out the MLM from the A3 HHCH as it won't support the extra features of the regular display head.

This has all the parts necessary to remote mount the head from the radio. The only caveat is that if you are trying to do this to a secure radio, you will need the special faceplate for the radio with the keyloader port , in order to be able to load keys to the radio. The A9 drawer units are not stock A9's, however. They won't allow programming of the A9 head.

Apparently this is blocked in the software somewhere may be in the codeplug. There might be others. It looks like the SIU is the actual "control head", simulating an A9, but without the ability to display alpha. It CAN be programmed to display 2-digit per channel, with the choices being 0 thru 9 plus A-F on a channel-by-channel basis.

The SIU would seem to limit the setup to 99 channels per radio, but this is not true. If you program the 1 Main radio to more than 99, it uses the display codes for the 2 radio up to 28!

The 2 radio would presumably display whatever is in the EEPROM above the last 99th location, this hasn't been confirmed. I think this is behind some of the problems people have had with "surplus" A9s that "won't read". These codes are detailed below. There is supposed to be a "reset micro" option in there somewhere that may help. Useful Part Numbers You never know when these part numbers might come in handy Old part numbers. The last two digits are the same as the old part number.

For example, a P01 is now a X The first two parts make up a button that has a raised guard around it, with a red plunger in the center to prevent accidental activation. Radio Installation Diagrams Here are some various installation diagrams and schematics for the installation of Spectra radios. Schematic of the HLNA? If you have a burning desire to know what the layout of the A9 remote cable make-up is, see below:. If you are very patient, you CAN re-assemble a cut control cable by re-soldering it back together.

Start by trimming and preparing the ends of each side of the cable kind of like this. Then, you cut a whole bunch of shrink tubing and start soldering and insulating as you go.

When you are done, you'll have something that looks like this. The only thing left is to nicely shrink tube the entire bundle make sure you think of that ahead of time : and test it out. As long as you go color for color, it should function just fine. The only thing that may be questionable is that mode steering to a Spectra Securenet mode may not work properly. This may just have been a programming issue. To do the converstion, you will need a Spectra "SP02" microprocessor.

The part number is T This part was a special factory build part and Motorola only recently made it available as an individual part.

This includes just reading the codeplug with RSS. In spite of its price, it only has 12 pages 6 pieces of paper total. Log in. Search titles only. Search Advanced search…. New posts. Search forums. To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software: Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold or was sold by the manufacturer for any monetary value.

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Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity. If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request. To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online i. Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming.

The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. Main DC Power: A two-pin MaxTrac-style power connector is mounted on the power amplifier heat sink, at the rear of the radio. This is the only dash-mount configuration that uses a DB connector. Here's a typical front panel with a DB jack for the control head on the left and another jack for options and programming on the right. The control head attaches to the radio with a special cable.

The radio end has a DB; the other end plugs into the control head using one of two unique connectors depending on the model and vintage. Note the orange and green ignition control wires which should have in-line fuse-holders and the two-pin white speaker connector. Here's a close-up of the connector and locking clip that's at the end of that cable.

The clips do fall off occasionally. Note the DA connector dangling from the control head connector; this is identical to the DA accessory jack on the back of all low- and mid-power Spectra radios. The speaker, emergency switch, and fused ignition control wires are provided at the control head end of the cable.

Some control cables have discrete wires coming out of the connector; others have a DA connector that accepts the same accessory plug that you'd use on a dash-mount radio. This connection point does NOT handle programming; all programming cables plug into a DA connector at the rear of low- and mid-power radios, or a DB connector on the front of high-power radios. High-power radios use a special three-pin power connector. Rear DA Accessory Jack: This jack seems to only be found on low- and mid-power radios and is used primarily for programming in remote-mount applications.

Front DB Jack: One jack would be present for the control cable. Also, dual control head configurations can have a second head plugged in to this second DB jack. Front Secure-Net Programming Jack: Some remote-mount radio chassis have an additional jack in the upper left corner of the front panel, which is usually covered with a captive rubber flap.

It appears to be a standard Spectra microphone connector, however only the outer four pins are connected. Here's a photo of a front panel with one. All of these radios are remote-mount and share most of the qualities described above. The radio chassis is enclosed in a box behind the rider. There are unique cables for motorcycle installations and they use different pin-outs on some connectors. I've never seen one but I suspect there are special manuals that cover them; I'm sure Mike Blenderman's site has information about these.

There's no reason why an A3 HHCH head couldn't be used on a motorcycle radio, however it probably doesn't make sense for the driver to have to hold such a large microphone. Also, a dual control head configuration could be possible. This mates with an adapter board in the front of the radio chassis for dash-mount configurations.